This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application for Hard Disk Drive Having a Plurality of Head Disk Assemblies earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on 15 Jan. 1998 and there duly assigned Serial No. 1033/1998.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard disk drive (HDD) for detecting a signal written on a hard disk using a head and reproducing the signal, and more particularly, to an HDD for integrally controlling a plurality of hard disks as one hardware structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
An HDD has been widely used as an auxiliary memory device to write information on a magnetic recording medium and to read the information therefrom. The HDD including an electronic device and a mechanical device can read and write data by converting a digital electronic pulse, which varies momentarily, into a permanent magnetic field. Information is written while a head acting as an electromagnet reacts with a platter (or disk) having a magnetizing property. On the contrary, when reading the information, the magnetized information is converted into an electrical signal.
In general, an HDD includes disks as magnetic recording media, magnetic heads for reading/writing data while traveling recording surfaces of the magnetic recording media, and a driving arm for driving the magnetic heads in its housing. Signals detected by the magnetic heads are transferred outward through a flexible printed cable (FPC) connected to the magnetic heads.
The concept of having a plurality of head disk assemblies accessed by one controller, wherein each head disk assembly contains a plurality of disks, can be seen in Hirano et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,772 entitled Magnetic Disk Apparatus Having Improved Arrangement of Head Disk Assemblies. The concept is also shown in Hanson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,308 for a Disk Drive System With Transportable Carrier and Mounting System and in Hanson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,373 for a Disk Drive System With Plural Removable Carrier-Disk Drive Modules. What is not mentioned by these references is the fact that each one of a plurality of HDA""s contains one or more controllers for performing such tasks as reading and writing data from or to a disk, controlling the movement of the heads, and controlling the rotation of the disks.
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hard disk drive (HDD) having a plurality of head disk assemblies, which can satisfy a need for variable disk storage capacities.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to have each one of a plurality of HDA""s each contain one or more controllers within each HDA used for controlling the reading and writing from and to a disk, controlling the movement of the heads, and controlling the rotation of the disks.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to have each one of a plurality of HDA""s each contain one or more controllers within each HDA used for controlling the reading and writing from and to a disk, controlling the movement of the heads, and controlling the rotation of the disks.
To achieve these objectives, there is provided an HDD for detecting and reading a signal written on a hard disk using a head, comprising: a plurality of head disk assemblies each having a plurality of disks for storing magnetized data and a plurality of heads for writing and reading data to and from the disks; a main printed circuit board physically being separated from each head disk assembly, for controlling reading/writing of data by the heads of the head disk assemblies; and connectors for electrically connecting the main printed circuit board with each head disk assembly.
Preferably, the main printed circuit board comprises a setting unit for setting information about the disks and heads contained in each head disk assembly, and a switch unit for selecting a disk and a head of one head disk assembly according to the information set by the setting unit and assessing the selected disk and head via the corresponding connector when intended to access a predetermined disk and head of one of the head disk assemblies.